It is Jimmie Johnson’s name in the headlines. It is Johnson’s face in the papers, too.

It is Johnson who will be guest-hosting SportsCenter Tuesday night – a nod to a new sense of fame that transcends motorsports

But it is arguable – at the very least arguable – that the most integral figure in Johnson’s success is a man who would go unrecognized outside of NASCAR circles. It’s his long time crew chief, Chad Knaus: the engine that makes the 48 team go.

For every one of Johnson’s championships, Knaus has been by his side. He’s been yelling on the radio, or pushing the rules, or sweating every detail at 5:30 a.m. with the season-opener more than a month away.

We know Johnson, an El Cajon native, as the driver who epitomizes Southern California cool. The man we know less about is Knaus – who can hardly go 10 minutes without getting hot.

“It's so funny, we're so completely opposite. He's West Coast. I'm type A, city, details. He's like, ‘Man, things will be okay,’” Knaus said. “The thing I think that's the best about Jimmie is he always has the positive outlook. How he's able to maintain that is amazing to me. I wish I had a little bit of that. I've been fortunate enough to work with him for so long that he's definitely rubbed off on me.”

That was Knaus Sunday night, after he and Johnson captured their sixth Sprint Cup Series title in the past eight years. He was nothing but laudatory toward Johnson throughout the night, calling him “the best ever” over the radio once the race was complete.

But if we were to look back eight years prior, before the string of success started in 2006, the words may not have been so kind. In fact, it took a sit-down meeting between the pair and team owner Rick Hendrick just to keep them from going their separate ways.

They stayed together, much to Hendrick’s delight…and the rest of NASCAR’s chagrin.

“In watching Chad and Jimmie both mature, they've learned how to not let things get to a point where there's a boiling point,” Hendrick said. “Hopefully the success they've had, they know they're stronger together than they are apart.”

The value of a crew chief versus that of a driver is a common topic of debate within the sport. Tom Busch, father to NASCAR drivers Kurt and Kyle Busch, had an argument with Richard Petty’s former crew chief Dale Inman a couple years back, with Busch saying that the crew chief is the key figure, while Inman asserted the driver was far more important.

Regardless of who’s right, the relationship between those two positions is critical, and right now, the one between Knaus and Johnson looks as solid as ever.

“This sport is about people,” Johnson said. “Our people rose up and got the job done.”